Shining Ark, Sega’s Other RPG, Has A Winged Girl Fighting A Pirate Ship

Sega is continuing the Shining series with Shining Ark, which is coming to PSP this winter. The story is about a boy named Freed who meets an angel-like girl named Panis.

Freed lives in Arcadia, a faraway island natural beauty with ancient ruins. One day Freed sees a mysterious girl with one black wing. Panis has an innocent personality and the miraculous power to gather animals when she sings. Amazed, the islanders begin to call Panis an "angel." However, when the moon shines the sky turns red and a gigantic thing is drawn towards her…

We’re guessing that’s the ship because it appears to be one of the bosses in Shining Ark. These battle screenshots show three options: guard, command, and end action.

Another Media Vision game that we’ll never see. This gen has been filled with disappointment. I hope the next brings back a resurgence of niche publishers (more startups like GungHo) and a digital distribution of these sorts of games to the West. That’s one of the best arguments that I can see for DD – it eliminates the risk involved with retail.

Ladius

Unfortunately, even that won’t help with games released by big publishers like Sega or Konami which aren’t used to hand out their licenses to other localization companies for western releases. Sega used to be fine with that business model and collaborated with Atlus USA in the past, but they don’t seem interested to pursue that venture nowadays.

Peeka Chu

Well if we’re lucky they might start giving one time publishing rights to certain companies. I never thought in a million years that Nintendo would cough up TLS IP to XSEED for example. I’m hopeful for next gen (well this gen, I guess for portables) and the promise of new business models and ideologies.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Ohhhh the game looks really colorful there.^_^ Just what Shining does the best there.

that exactly what i thought when i see the pic ! And the name , oh the name , did anyone thinking like i’m thinking ! ^^

malek86

“when the moon shines the sky turns red and a gigantic thing is drawn towards her…”

This sounds like a hentai game.

Still, I see Sega isn’t ready to jump ship for the Shining series yet, not even on the 3DS. Why not try a multiplatform release? I understand this game will be aimed at fans, but you probably want your fans to upgrade at some point. It will be good for the future too.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Actually, if you know Shining series always makes an emphasize that when moon turns red, it means disaster is coming there.(Or the border between world is weakening.^_^)

Tianyu Wei

3DS won’t be an upgrade graphically. 3DS is just bit better than the PSP… And they probably don’t want to commit resource for the VITA yet.

malek86

3DS won’t be an upgrade graphically but at some point they’ll need to leave the PSP, since its audience is slowly going away to other platforms.

xavier axol

the only shame is that this game won’t ever leave japan and even if i import this game (it’s just not the same) for some people like myself, learning another language takes years. when will i ever see another shining game sega? and i do not mind it if it’s downloadable only, so long as i get to play it.

FitzpatrickPhillips

People spend more time asking and waiting for localizations that it would take to learn the language. It’s not that hard.

xavier axol

well it depends, in some cases you might be right but it’s not as simple as you make it up to be (trust me). it took me years to learn the limited english vocabulary that i have today, don’t you think that the reason these people ask for these games to be localized is because there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation behind it? ’cause may be there people like myself that sometimes work 15 hours and have other priorities, but still want to enjoy a good game from time to time. that for some reason this person like myself would rather try to spend time and money to go to college and get a career than learning another language. and please forgive me if i sound like a jerk, but i’m just as tired to hear people make us sound as whiners and tell us to just learned japanese and import the game, because “it’s not that hard”.

MrRobbyM

I truly HATE when people use that excuse. “It’s not that hard, just shut up and learn the language”. Not everybody has time to learn a language, let alone play video games. Some people have jobs and kids you know. If you got enough time and money to learn a completely different language then props to you but not everyone is able to do that.

xavier axol

these people take for granted the free time they have (and some time sound very arrogant), but so do i. although i would ask people to not make a statement so lightly, because other people don’t live in there shoes and would come out (at least to me) as a jerk.

MrRobbyM

Amen.

FitzpatrickPhillips

Granted, thats a pretty rude thing to say on their part, but it isn’t as time consuming as you think. Nobody is making the notion that you need to spend 5 hours per day. You’d be surprised what 30mins per day can do in the long run when you have the right tools. And if you can’t even spare 30mins a day towards your hobby, I wonder how you play videogames at all.

FitzpatrickPhillips

I work two part-time jobs and go to college full time and have no days off, yet I still managed to learn a decent amount in a year and am still going strong. It’s all about managing your priorities and having good time management and dedication. Sure, I can understand if someone is super busy and don’t want to put up the time and effort to learn a language, but there are a lot of people out there who just laze around doing nothing and cry and moan about localizations all day – keep in mind, I’m not calling you out or anything. Thats just from what I’ve observed.

Furthermore, it’s not for just one game. You’re opening a whole new realm of media to explore. Websites, books, manga, games, audio CDs, etc. You don’t have to wait for someone else to do the job for you or worry about poor localization choices or needlessly long wait times. It really isn’t that hard. You just need a set-plan, some motivation and diligence. Most importantly though, you need a plan.

MrRobbyM

What you speak is true but it’s not only a time thing. It’s also an opportunity thing. Not everyone has the opportunity or money to learn a new language. It certainly isn’t free. So when people say “just learn the language, it’s not that hard” can also imply “just make more money, it’s not that hard”. I’m sure that wasn’t your intention, but it certainly isn’t as easy as just deciding you want to learn a language and doing it. But believe me, I would LOVE to learn Japanese.

FitzpatrickPhillips

You seem to be a bit misguided on the whole deal. I’ve learned to read japanese and I’ve only spent a total of maybe 30 bucks over the course of 1 year. In fact, If I had discovered tae kim’s guide I wouldn’t have spent a dime. You don’t need to shell out tons of cash, you don’t need to take class, and you don’t need to spend 10 hours a day hunched over books. 30mins a day of planned study or listening can do a lot in the long run.

xavier axol

ok i see your situation and i heard ya! it’s tough and yet, you manage your time (having two part time jobs and still doing your daily routine it’s hard). definatly it’s the motivation and will to keep one going, for some it’s necesity and setting your priorities straight with a well organize plan can help. but keep in mind that even with that determination and a well thought out plan can’t always go your way, when certain events prevents you to. of course that only applies to those people, all i’m saying is that some people can do that and others can’t but not because they don’t want to.

p.s. to make it clear i don’t work two part time jobs, but there’re times when i work two shift, so i would imagine how though it is for you bro. keep on hanging it will payoff (°^°) and i hope we both get what we set up for our selves in terms of life and our passion of gaming.

Indeed it isn’t “hard” well except remembering the kanji part. >_< Spent all my high school years in Japanese class and I feel like I only scratched the surface.

xavier axol

well i can only tell you from my experience from learning english and let me tell you, it not easy either. now that also depends on the person, but when you are learning something that you never seen or heard before like in my case. it frustrated me trying to communicate what i really meant when talking to someone, all the things like learning the nouns, verbs, adjectives, grammar, customs, and how sometimes words can have double meaning that are implementent in a way that i as a foreigner couldn’t understand really holded me back for years. but again it’s really depends on the person, how is he/she learning, and the situation at hand. by the way if you are learning another language by yourself, i gotta say you sir/lady are the most amazing person there is!. my bro who’s older than i and didn’t attend school is just as good as me. and i’m amaze how he can keep up with me interms of writing and vocabulary.

Göran Isacson

Some people learn to count really, REALLY easy, math becomes a second nature to them. Some people can copy a musical piece near flawlessly from hearing it just once, and some people learn languages really fast and/or really easy. But everyone is different, and to some learning even one language is a painstaking and very difficult process that TRULY requires all the hours of study you say aren’t necessary. Even if they manage their time. Even if they are dedicated, it IS just harder for some people, and that is why localization IS the faster, easier and better choice than just sucking up ones complaints and learning a whole new language. Just saying.

Quinton Cunningham

There’s also the whole price difference and region-lock things, you know.

Tianyu Wei

Learning enough Japanese to play a game probably takes about 6 months tops. Learning enough Japanese to understand most of the plots and conversation would probably take about 2 years.

Syn

Am I the only one that mis read Panis as well…….. Penis, I was like “WHAT THE HELL, an Angel named WHAT!!!” Am just saying.

Look back to the Greeks, and Romans for that. While there was nudity it wasn’t porn.

xavier axol

i’m not good with history, but from the tone i’m guessing it’s not good?. well if i remember correctly the porn industry help introduce us dvd’s and help the internet as well (and it’s not in just looking for porn sites), but who knows if that was a good thing (and it sounds weird caming that from me).

Well for those two it was just a form of art, showing the human as it really is. I don’t know whether or not it was good or bad, but when Rome detached and became the Byzantines the art changed and people wore clothes most of the time.

Tom_Phoenix

Actually, ancient civilisations had pornography in a sense. They obviously didn’t have video, but their potrayals of sexual intercourse would qualify as hardcore pornography today.

I think the mods would crucify me if I posted pictures, but this Wikipedia page has some examples (needless to say, NOT SAFE FOR WORK):

Penis…I mean Panis is Xion daughter or what? Sorry guys but Sephirot is Xion father when you think he also had black/white wings. For now the noon with dual pistol looks cool. The elf looks like the fusion between Elwyn and Amil.

Yeah, that’s why I don’t like importing much, but we just have to be on the lookout for some amazing promos. Or like @google-8e44e2f7be03b7139cb90f9ee6468d31:disqus said, we should prolly just get it off psn, if it’s any cheaper.

Looks really nice. Any chance for localization? Also its all about Panis and the pirate girl for me =^_^=

neo_firenze

Highly unlikely to be localized, unfortunately. For one it’s on PSP. And regardless of system, Sega just doesn’t seem to localize Shining games any more. The last four console/portable releases were Japan only:

I still wonder does past characters from Tears , Wind , Hearts and Blades will join the cast ? Would be great if characters like Keiner ( Shining Tears ) or Souma ( Shining Wind ) making some cameo appearances :)

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